The US economy grew at a pace of 0.6% in the first three months of 2007, its weakest rate in more than four years, official figures have shown.Hit by Americans importing more goods and firms cutting their supply stockpiles, the figure was a downward revision on the initial 1.3% estimate.

The latest figure from the Commerce Department was also worse than market expectations of 0.8%.

It was the slowest rate of growth since the final three months of 2002.

‘Bounce back’

Another significant factor for the weak showing was the downturn in the housing market, which posted a 15.4% reduction in new home building during the quarter.

Weakness in the housing market is also hitting the US economy

However, consumer spending remained resilient, adding 4.4%.

And business investment was better than earlier estimates, growing 2.9%, revised up from 2%.

“It looked like the market was starting to lean into the wind, anticipating a weak number, and we got a little sell-off when it did come in,” said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at Bank of New York.

“But it’s quite obvious the economy bottomed in the first quarter and this leaves us with a better base from which to bounce back.”

Other analysts are also confident that the figures for April to June will be much better.

Once again, un-named US and NATO officials are spreading the fantastic news of the century. IRI is giving arms to their enemies, the same guys who killed several IRI officials in the late 90s and caused IRI to almost attack and invade Afghanistan.

But, once again, history has nothing to do with reality, these un names officials who do not want to be named, since they are afraid to be held accountable for their lies (not that anyone really cares these day), are spreading the “news” about those sophisticated weapons (KA47 and C-4 explosives).

Read this piece and see how everyone who claims this are anonymous, but those who question it or have some insight about it, are named! Funny isn’t it?

Does anyone ask CNN why these guys who are officials with knowledge of the issues do not want to be named? And why on earth does CNN spread these rumors without putting “claims” or “unconfirmed” or what ever correct quotation they should use.

Are we going to buy these lies? Are these steps to create an acceptance among the world opinion to prepare for an attack against Iran?

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Weapons crossing the border from Iran to Afghanistan may be winding up in the hands of the Taliban, the hard-line Islamic militia that is battling U.S.- and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, U.S. and British officials said.

Coalition officials in Afghanistan said they have intercepted Iranian-made AK-47s, C-4 plastic explosives and mortars. One explosively-formed penetrator bomb (EFP) that was found can pierce American armor, a NATO official said.

The EFP is similar to the weaponry the United States says Iran has provided to militants in Iraq, but the NATO official said the weapon has not been traced directly to the Iranian regime.

Some analysts question whether the top echelons of the Iranian government are behind any transfer of arms from the Islamic Republic to the Taliban, Iran’s long-time foe. Rogue elements — perhaps the Quds force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard — may be operating on their own, the analysts suggest.

But a U.S. official who requested anonymity told CNN the United States believes Iran’s supreme leaders know about these operations and could stop them if they wanted to.

Another U.S. official said Iran still sees the Taliban as an enemy but has a history of dealing with people it considers “nasty” as long as it is “congruent with Iran’s overall objectives.” In this case, Iran is “working the Taliban angle” to “bleed the U.S.” in Afghanistan, the official said.

The British government called any provision of arms by Iran to the Taliban “unacceptable.”

“We know about illegal movements of munitions across the border from Iran to Afghanistan, destined for the Taliban,” the British Ministry of Defense said in a statement. “We are concerned that some of these munitions are of Iranian origin.”

A former U.S. intelligence official said Iranian activities in Afghanistan would be a disturbing development.

“That suggests the Iranians are now turning up the pressure on the NATO forces in Afghanistan,” said former national security official Bruce Riedel. “Since Iran has one of the most extensive intelligence networks in the entire country, they would have an enormous capability to cause mischief.”

Denial by Iran

An Iranian official at the United Nations denied his country is giving weapons to the Taliban, noting that the Iranian government has long supported Afghan President Hamid Karzai and has always seen the Taliban as an enemy.

Both U.S. officials and outside analysts said any malicious intentions on Iran’s part would only be directed at the United States. The majority-Shiite Iran would not want the Taliban to gain too much strength, they said.

“Iran and the Taliban nearly went to war in 1998 over the killing of 11 Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan,” said Afshin Molavi of the New American Foundation, a non-profit, public policy institute based in Washington. “And the Taliban are also virulently anti-Shiite. So if these allegations are true, Iran is playing a very dangerous and delicate game.”

One analyst called it a game of “managed chaos,” just enough to bloody America’s nose in Afghanistan.

Iraq resistance is a popular movement with the support of the local population. They have the possibility to act and attack US forces anywhere, any time and the vast majority of the locals not only do not stop them, but also support them and help them in their efforts.

This is Iraq, 4 years after Bush declared the major operation in Iraq being over and in the battle of Iraq, US government had won “the war”.

This is what the US soldiers live with every day, every hour and every minute of their active duty in Iraq. Can you blame them for being anti-war? Do you know understand why they want to come home?

Judging from the video, you can understand why the number of Americans dying in Iraq has been higher than any other months since 2004.
Just take a look at the past few days (source antiwar.com)

Iran has launched a bid to develop Germany’s Transrapid high-speed magnetic train in order to ferry up to 15 million Islamic pilgrims a year along a 480-mile route linking its capital, Tehran, with the north-eastern city of Maschhad.

If the deal goes ahead, Iran would become the second country, after China, to have bought Germany’s record-breaking train, which “floats” on a monorail as a result of a magnetic levitation (maglev) system and can reach speeds of more than 280mph.

Details of the Iranian bid were disclosed yesterday by the Schlegel engineering firm in Munich, which is already involved in high-speed rail track development in Germany. The company has been asked by Tehran to conduct a feasibility study to determine whether a Transrapid track can be built along the proposed route.

Harald Spaeth, the company’s director, said he met last week with the Iranian ambassador to Berlin to discuss the Transrapid. He said Iran had earmarked $1.5bn (£760m) start-up capital for the project and hoped to find co-investors.

An investment of $1.5bn would substantially increase German economic ties with Iran. German exports to Iran totalled €4bn (£2.7bn) last year.

The idea was first discussed three years ago during a visit to Tehran by Otto Wiesheu, the then Bavarian economics minister, who is currently on the board of Germany’s Deutsche Bahn rail network. But Siemens and ThyssenKrupp, the two engineering companies which supply technology for the Transrapid, said they had so far not been approached by the Iranian government.

Mr Wiesheu acknowledged yesterday the difficulties posed by the current international dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme, and the fact that Germany was one of the countries negotiating with Tehran over the issue. “There is no doubt that Iran is a difficult country, but transporting pilgrims in Iran is certainly not a project that would be subjected to a political boycott,” he insisted.

Busses currently ply the pilgrims’ route between Tehran and Maschhad. The road is so tortuous that the journey, undertaken by between 12 and 15 million people a year, takes two days to complete. The Transrapid would cut travelling time to three hours.

The super high-speed train has been dogged by controversy and opposition almost since its inception. In China, where the Trans-rapid ferries passengers from the centre of Shanghai to the city’s airport, protesters have forced the authorities to postpone plans to develop the service.

Proposals to run the Transrapid along a 100-mile route linking Shanghai with the city of Hangzouh were put on ice this month after more than 5,000 residents signed a petition saying they feared health risks would result from their exposure to high electromagnetic fields created by the trains. The project was scheduled for completion in three years, when Shanghai hosts the Expo 2010 exhibition.

In Germany, plans to run the Transrapid along what was intended to be a showpiece route between Berlin and Hamburg were axed in the early 1990s amid protests from the Green Party and residents. They insisted that the train was too noisy, used too much electricity and was potentially unsafe.